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31 December 2023
South Africa’s biggest fibre network operators (FNOs) continued to expand their fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks substantially in 2023. The number of people using FTTH has surged past those who had a Telkom DSL package at the peak of its popularity in 2014. At its height, there were around a million DSL customers in South Africa. Fibre not only provides faster and more reliable connections with greater capacity, it is also immune against one of the biggest weaknesses of ADSL — copper cable theft.
South Africans should not be holding their breath for better fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) prices in 2024, according to feedback from several of the country’s largest fibre network operators. On a per-Mbps basis, the price of an FTTH connection in South Africa has decreased substantially since the Covid-19 pandemic spurred demand for higher bandwidth. However, many operators have also been cutting their entry-level packages and migrating customers to higher-end options.
South African fibre network operator (FNO) Fibertime (formerly Isizwe) has connected 7,500 homes to its network in Kyamandi. The company has big expansion plans for 2024, targeting to connect 200,000 new homes in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and North West province townships in the next 12 months. “We completed the installation of the Fibertime network in Kayamandi — we now have 7,500 homes and shacks connected (not just passed),” Fibertime CEO Steve Briggs told MyBroadband.